What We Shared
by Irrepressible Courage
Summary: What the two of them shared was real, intimate, beautiful. Their story had been one of adventure, of many trials, of discovery, but above all else, of preparing to dive into each other's soul. Serah found in Noel what being truly alive meant, what letting go and trusting the process of life was all about. She found freedom in him. He found happiness in her.
1. There's No One Here

**Chapter One: There's no one here**

Her sister's been gone for three years now. No one seems to remember her being there when Cocoon was crystallized and everyone was saved, not even Snow, who actually received his sister-in-law's blessing, seems to recall that actually happening. Serah had never felt so alone as she did in the years that followed the end of life on Cocoon and the construction of settlements on Pulse. Pretty much everyone just assumed that her remembering things incorrectly was yet another side-effect of being made a l'Cie and spending time in a crystal slumber, same as still being able to somewhat use magic after awakening.

Except that the others had been in the same situation as her. Snow, Hope, Sazh, even Dajh, they had all been made l'Cie and eventually turned to crystal, although, to be fair, only Dajh spent nearly as much time as her in crystal stasis. Nevertheless, not one of them had any recollection of Lightning being alive after the unleashing of Ragnarok. She tried for God knows how long to reason with her friends, to explain how her memories couldn't have been wrong, how they simply couldn't be just another side-effect of being a fal'Cie pawn, how Lightning had seem to overcome her issues with her wedding, how she even said congratulations to them. But try as she might, no one shared her memories, and time was moving forward, things needed to be done, more urgent matters called for their attention, and soon everyone ended up not having time nor energy to pay attention to Serah's reasoning and sorrow. They needed to find a new place to live, build houses from scratch, take care of provisions, watch over the children, establish some sort of order now that the fal'Cie rule had come to an end. There was no time to wallow on the past, no time for sadness or doubt, and since Serah couldn't bear being a burden to anyone, she soon decided to keep her pain and musings to herself and help on the construction of their brand new home.

The first year after the fall had obviously been the hardest and longest. Everything was new, the land, the weather which they couldn't control anymore, the monsters that would show up every single day in the beginning to threaten them and ruin a house or two, and even the people. You can't expect to survive the destruction of your civilization and remain the same person inside. People were scared in the beginning, they had to learn how to fend for themselves, how to depend on each other and not on godly deities. Some were even scared of the former l'Cies, still oblivious to the whole truth behind the events that brought about the destruction of their planet.

There were many trials to be overcome, many skills to be learned, and the l'Cie group eventually disbanded. Sazh and Dajh headed for the main town that was being built on the base of the crystal pillar. Hope had decided to remain with Snow, Serah and the rest of the NORA gang at first, helping out at New Bodhun. He was great with science and numbers, a true "geek", as Snow had affectionately called him, and eventually, encouraged by nearly everyone, he decided to move to the main town as well, seeing as someone like him would be extremely valuable in the construction of their new society.

After the first year, time seemed to speed up, and things were beginning to look up again. They opened a new cafe where Lebreau was obviously the head chef, cooking the same old NORA special that everyone loved. Snow and Gadot were in charge of security, Maqui was the one taking care of the machinery and Yuj, being your regular jack of all trades, would offer help wherever it was needed. Back on Cocoon, Serah was supposed to get married and go to university in Eden, it was as if her whole future had already been planned and decided for her, but after everything that's happened, for the first time in her life, she found herself lost, without the slightest idea of what she should actually do. It was during one of their weekly meetings that the rest of the NORA members suggested that she took up teaching. "You've always been great with children, and now that the major issues have been taken care of, they need to pick up their studies where they've left off." explained Lebreau, and for a moment Serah was surprised to hear those words. She had never realized she had a knack for dealing with children, but apparently everyone seemed to think so. When she asked for a reason, they simply said that it's because she's always seemed so sweet and caring. That's always been the way everyone perceived her, as a sweet, gentle girl, almost angelic. Back then she was still oblivious as to why that perception seemed to bother her, but she agreed to take responsibility for the children's education nonetheless. She was undeniably good with them, and even though sometimes she would have to deal with the ever annoying "meanie miss Farron" chanting, she actually ended up loving taking care of them.

So many issues had demanded their attention in the past years that the idea of getting married seemed to have completely vanished from Snow's mind. He had always enjoyed being the leader, making himself useful and becoming a hero to those in need, and the perfect opportunity had presented itself when Cocoon had ended. For Serah, however, that wasn't the case. Sure, she had been worried about their situation and the future of humanity, and for a while the idea of marriage had to be postponed. But now it's been nearly three years, everyone was doing fine, they had a new place to call home and people seemed to have accepted their new lifestyle, so what was standing in the way? She couldn't help but wonder, and the question was a persistent one, presenting itself daily, especially during dinner time, when every NORA member would gather together at their house to share a meal. Snow would always sit at the head of the table and ramble on and on about the major events that happened that day during one of his and Gadot's adventures. They always sat close to each other, and sometimes they would exchange looks and smiles while he put his hand on hers, but that was all.  
Then the whole gang would help clean things up, talk some more and eventually everyone would go to bed. For some reason, Snow and her slept in separate rooms, despite having actually slept together several times back when they lived in Cocoon. At the beginning she shared the smaller bedroom of the house with Lebreau, whereas the four guys got the bigger one for themselves, but she had always assumed that would be temporary, that eventually Snow and her would get married and move to their own little house. That, of course, never happened.

Every morning before work they would talk over breakfast. Snow usually left earlier, so their conversations were often rushed, with him getting off his chair saying "well, duty calls", kissing her on the forehead and yelling at Gadot for taking too long to get ready.

Everything seemed fine on the outside, and yet nothing really was. People seemed to be doing okay, to be enjoying their new lives, and a small part of her was actually happy that things turned out well for everyone. But most of the time Serah felt confused and alone, constantly asking herself how she could keep on living this lie, how she could bring herself to carry on when her sister wasn't there, especially after all that Lightning had done for her. It wouldn't take long for the guilt to show its ugly face too, making her see herself as a horrible selfish person. She knew she should be thankful that she had survived, that they all had been granted a miracle and a second chance at life, and that was precisely why she was always seen smiling, why she was always kind and sweet to everyone. She had long given up on bothering everyone else with her problems, it seemed to be easier that way, seemed to be the mature thing to do.

Eventually Snow must've picked up on what was going on inside her mind, for one day, out of the blue, he called her out to the pier they all had built nearly three years ago, just like the original one they had in Bodhum.

"I know you've been miserable, and I know you've been trying to hide it for quite a while now." he said, looking her straight in the eyes. He was still wearing his trademark bandana, and the breeze coming from the sea played softly with the loose strands of his hair.

"Yes, and you probably already know why I feel that way, and you know there really isn't anything that can be done about it. Things have finally begun to look up again, I don't want to ruin what we've worked so hard to build."  
"You've always been like that, Serah, always putting everyone else's needs before your very own, and I admire that in you, truly, I do. But if you keep that up for too long, especially under the current circumstances, you'll break eventually." His eyes were full of concern, and she knew he spoke the truth. She knew how dangerous it could be to suppress your feelings for too long. Yet she couldn't bring herself to let everyone know that she still hadn't given up on Lightning, that she still believed her sister was alive somewhere.

"I'll be fine. I've got you and everyone else by my side. There's nothing to worry about." She forced a smile, a bright one at that. They were her own trademark, though since the fall of Cocoon, most of them had been fake. She had become so good at faking smiles that no one could tell the real from the fake ones, not even her fiancé.

"I know you will, that's why I've come to talk to you. I'm leaving, Serah." Well, as professional as she might be, no smile could've survived that. Her eyes widened.

"Excuse me?" Leaving to do what, exactly? Leaving on another hunting mission with Gadot and the boys? Leaving the town for a few days? Leaving her for good?

"I'm leaving to try to find Lightning." he quickly explained, seeing her shocked expression.

"Lightning? But isn't she in the crystal pillar with Fang and Vanille? You and everyone else kept telling me that for the past three years." Anger was beginning to stir inside her. What is this all of a sudden? Three years telling her to accept her sister's "death", and now he's decided to actually believe her?

"Yes, but I can't bear to see you like miserable like that. I have to do something to fix it, to make you happy again. Besides, I can't seem to be able to shake the feeling that something about this whole story stinks. I want to get to the bottom of this, and bring Lightning back safe and sound to you."

"All right, I'm going with you then."

"I'm sorry Serah, but there's no way I'm letting you risk your life like that. Pulse is still a dangerous place outside the settlements, you weren't with us when we explored it as l'Cie. There are vicious beasts pretty much everywhere. I couldn't bear to lose you". Ah nice. The famous "you weren't with us so you don't know what it's like" argument. She had heard her fair share of those in the three years that followed his adventure with Lightning and the others. Sure, she didn't know what the rest of Gran Pulse was like, but she could still take care of herself. Didn't she help in the building of their own town? Didn't she help everyone find and distribute provisions? Hadn't she already proved her usefulness, if not to everyone else, at least to her own fiancé? Snow went on.

"No, you stay here and watch over everyone. Be a leader in my place and keep them in line, will you?" he joked. "Besides, the children would miss you, too. You're doing so well with them, I can tell they practically adore you". His hands reached for the back of his neck and he took his engagement necklace and placed it in her hands. Now she was really confused.

"Here, you hold on to this for a while. I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if I lost it. I promise I'll be back as soon as possible. Gadot and the others are helping me pack. I'm leaving tonight." he hugged her tight, the way he always used to. Tears were beginning to come forth, and her vision was blurred, but she tried her hardest to control herself. She didn't want to come undone in front of him, didn't want to give him or anyone else any more reason to worry about her.  
That ways six months ago.

In three years, everyone had left her. For a split second after awakening from crystal slumber, she thought she had everything. Her sister, her fiancé, her friends. Now nearly all of them left. They all went away, one way or another, to live their adventures. And she was left there, waiting. Waiting for news of Snow. Waiting for her sister to come back from wherever she was. Waiting for a visit from Hope or Sazh. But none of them ever came. The one who actually came was someone new. Someone she wasn't expecting. But in the end, he turned out to be exactly what she needed.


	2. Different From The Beginning

_Aha! Chapter two is here! I'll try to update this story with a new chapter at least once a week. Maybe I'll be able to do it more frequently, but a chapter a week is guaranteed. Thank you very much to the ones that are reading it and thanks a bunch for the reviews!  
Ah, I forgot to mention in the previous chapter that English isn't my native language, so I'd like to apologize in advance for any mistakes I might end up making._ ****

 **Chapter Two: Different From The Beginning**

Having him around was different. He responded to life differently, he talked to her differently, he expected different things from her, he was the embodiment of a new perspective, a new way to look at things, a different way to see the world. Of course she didn't realize all this immediately, no. It took time, like most valuable lessons do, like most cherished experiences and relationships in life do. She took her time getting to know him, observing the way he flowed through life, listening to what he had to say, studying all his many different expressions, and most importantly, experiencing, intensely and completely, the multitude of feelings he caused her.

It was different from the very beginning, and sometimes she would wonder if all this wasn't some sort of dream of hers, since, funnily enough, she met him shortly after waking up from a nap. It had been a long day, she had taught an awful lot of classes, the kids had given her a fair share of trouble, and to top it all off, she had offered Lebreau some help at the cafe later that night. She threw herself on her bed and closed her eyes only for a minute, but it was enough for her to have yet another nonsensical dream about her sister riding some sort of mechanical horse along a desert shore, engaged in what seemed to be an extremely vicious fight against a man she had never seen before. She felt a rush of panic, as she usually did when these kinds of dreams plagued her, and woke up quite suddenly, calling out her sister's name. Only this time, she was wearing weird clothes, which she most definitely did not remember putting on. The weirdness took a turn for the worse when she began hearing screams coming from outside. She rushed out of the house, only to find her town being attacked by a horde of some sort of weird mechanical beasts. Some NORA members were trying to shoot them, while others helped the people escape to a safer place. She didn't have much time to make sense of the whole situation before one of the weird creatures landed right before her and prepared to attack. She stepped back and ended up losing balance, falling on the sand. Lebreau rushed head on from behind her and killed the beast with multiple shots from her gun. She was out of breath and had a very angry and distressed expression on her face, much worse than the one she usually had during busy hours at the cafe.

"Come on Serah, get up! Now!" She screamed, pulling the girl back on her feet. "Get a grip! Your sister's not here anymore to protect you!"

Serah felt a quick rush of painful emotions after hearing those words. Sadness was there, as usual, but there was a tint of anger mixed to it. She wasn't angry at Lebreau specifically, but at the whole situation, at having the others feel the need to say such things to her, like she wasn't capable to take proper care of herself, like she expected her sister to always be around to shield her from the dangers of the world. It was disheartening, really, to realize that her very nature gave the others the impression that she would forever remain a little girl.

Shortly after that, Lebreau was hit pretty bad by an explosion caused by a group of beasts that had attacked them simultaneously. Serah rushed to her and tried her hardest to lift the girl up and take her somewhere safe. Other beasts gathered around them and were already closing in. Serah began to panic, searching with her eyes for a path to run away, but realizing it would be in vain, for Lebreau was nearly unconscious and she couldn't even carry the girl on her own, let alone run anywhere with her. One of the monsters charged in and Serah closed her eyes in a quick reflex, terrified and full of despair, but the pain never came. She heard a loud noise of metal clashing and opened her eyes to find a tall figure standing before her and protecting her from what would've been a deadly blow. It was a man, judging by the way he was built and the tone of his voice as he wrenched free from the monster's grasp and pushed it away. He was carrying two weapons in his hands, one looked like a sword of some sort, the other appeared to be a knife, and they both seemed to be made of the same material and had the same colors. With a swift move, he managed to slice the remaining beasts and scare away the ones that dodged his blow. He turned to her and Serah could finally take a good look at his face. He must've been the same age as her, either younger or older by no more than two or three years. His hair was brown and nearly shoulder-length, a bit wet with sweat, probably from all the running around and fighting. His clothes were different from the kind of garments she and the rest of the townsfolk were used to. But what struck her the most were, by far, his eyes. They were hauntingly blue, and though his face showed no signs of age yet, his eyes were a whole different story. They were far too deep and intense, filled with complicated emotions, as though they've seen far more things than a person that young normally would've. She had never seen eyes like his.

"Get up, Serah." His voice brought her quickly back to reality, and she gently set Lebreau's unconscious body on the sand. She looked up at him again, confused as to how he knew her name, and he was handing her some sort of metallic bow.

"Can you fight?" He asked, looking deep into her eyes, beads of sweat running down the sides of his face. She took the bow from his hands and stood up, looking at it with a puzzled expression.

"If I have to…" It was the first time someone asked her that. Usually everyone, be it her sister, Snow or anyone from the NORA gang, just assumed that she needed to be protected, and it was the very first time she ever held an actual weapon in her hands.  
"Good. And more thing…" he began, as he reached for his back satchel and pulled yet another small knife, the kind that you quickly throw at your enemies during battle. "…and wait to die!".

The monsters were swarming in from all sides, and it was a tiring battle. The two of them fought together, side by side, and even though it was the first time she had ever seen him in her life, she couldn't help but get a feeling of familiarity. Like she was supposed to be there, fighting by his side, protecting herself and the people dearest to her. She was, however, considerably clumsy with that metallic bow thingy, given how that was the first time she had ever used a weapon. Still, she managed to stand her ground and keep the strange monsters away. The fact that she was still able to use magic, even though she was no longer a l'Cie, was a huge help, for it enabled her to do away with monsters that were too far away for her to shoot at.

When all of them had been slain and the whole ruckus had died down, she was just standing there, still in shock, staring blankly at the horizon. What in the heavens had just happened? What had she just done? What exactly were those creatures and were did they all come from? Who was that young man and how did he know who she was? It was simply too much to take in all at once.

Maqi's voice snapped her out of her confusion, asking if she was okay. She didn't reply right away, for she was still coming back to her senses, slowly turning around, and noticing the mysterious man heading towards her house, carrying the unconscious Lebreau in his arms.

"Okay…" she answered meekly, without taking her eyes from Lebreau and the strange man.

Gadot gathered the other NORA members and military townsfolk around, ordering them all to go towards a so-called "meteorite" had hit. She didn't know what they were talking about, but whatever that was, she would deal with it later.

Rushing towards her house, she saw the young man gently set Lebreau down on the floor, close to the entrance doors. She laid down new to her friend and was overcome with relief upon realizing that she was still breathing.

"You're gonna be okay." Serah whispered to her ear, smiling at her friend's incredible luck. "And thank you… Whoever you are."

"Noel. Noel Kreiss." the man smiled softly at her, as though they were already friends. "Oh and, before I forget, it wasn't just me who helped you. You should probably thank this little guy too."

He pointed at the weird bow thingy in her hands, and before she could ask what he meant by that, it began to lightly shake and shine, wrenching away from her hands and transforming into a floating little creature. She recognized it as a toy moogle, the kind that they saw back in the Nautilus theme park when she was a little girl.  
"He's supposed to be some sort of lucky charm, you know? Your sister gave it to me. Told me to hand it over to you." Noel explained, and the mere mention of her sister startled her and made her unconsciously hold the floating moogle tight.  
"Wait, you know Lightning? You know my sister? How? And how do you know who I am?"

"She's the one who told me to come here and find you. That's how I knew your name. You two are very similar looking, so when I saw you, I just assumed you were the one I was looking for."  
"But where? Where did you see her? And when?"

It was too much for her. It was the first time she received any form of confirmation that maybe, just maybe, her memories of her sister being alive and well weren't a dream or some sort of illusion. She started flooding the man named Noel with questions, most of them about Lightning, and some about he himself. She learned that he had met her in a place named Valhalla, that she had been fighting a mysterious man named Caius, and that she desperately needed her help. That the toy moogle was no toy at all but the actual real thing, and that she was supposed to use it to protect her on her "journey", whatever that meant.

Noel explained everything and answered her questions to the best of his ability. There seemed to be much he still didn't understand either, and was hoping to find out eventually.

***

That night had been a defining moment in her life, though little did she know back then. Gadot and the others came back a few hours later and explained that the meteorite was actually no meteorite at all but a gate of some sort. Serah, however, was too tired and shaken up to absorb any new information, let alone to come into contact with another mysterious object or being that challenged her understanding of life and the world. They all agreed to further inspect the confusing gate later, and focused on taking care of Lebreau and learning more about their mysterious visitor.

Noel explained that he came from the future, from nearly seven hundred years in the future, to be exact. That there wasn't much left from humanity and civilization where he came from, and that he prayed for a miracle to change his sad reality. That miracle is what led him to Lightning, and Lightning led him to New Bodhum, to look for a girl named Serah.

As he carried on with his explanation of the events, everyone seemed both extremely curious and confused. Yuj and Maqi asked their own silly questions about time traveling and the future, all of which Noel simply didn't know the answers to, much to their dismay.  
Gadot, on the other hand, looked less and less happy, and she noticed that. He seemed to find the new visitor all too suspicious, especially his elusive connection to Serah. In his own way, he was probably just trying to protect her, as the whole group usually did, but Serah knew he was most likely thinking of Snow too. Of what would happen if Snow found out that a mysterious man came looking for his fiancé and was also quite keen on staying by her side the whole night, until they all decided it was better to get some rest and try to make sense of what happened tomorrow.  
Lebreau's injuries had been taken care of and she was already fast asleep on her bed, in the bedroom she shared with Serah. Yuj and Maqi's snores could be heard all around the house, and Gadot was just finishing taking a quick shower before heading to bed too. The little moogle guy's name was Mog, as Serah had found out, and already was he fast asleep on a little cushion in her bedroom. The only ones left in the living room were her and the mysterious Noel. She had taken an extra blanket from the boys' room and was trying to turn one of the couches into a comfortable place for Noel to crash on that night.

"I'm sorry we don't have any extra beds. You can sleep in mine, though, I don't mind. I probably shan't sleep a wink, anyway, after all that's happened."

"Thank you but there's no need for that. I'll be okay sleeping here. It actually looks way more comfortable than what I'm used to back where I'm from." He had a soft smile on his face, and he looked extremely tired. Serah felt a little bit sorry for him for a moment, having heard the kind of world he was actually from. She could only imagine what it was like to live in a world where there's nearly no one left, and very little to hope for. She tried to quickly imagine what his home must've looked like, but was too tired to actually come up with anything.  
"Well… I guess I'll turn in, then." She began, looking down at her own hands on the cushions she had set aside for Noel to use as pillows. "We'll talk more tomorrow. There's a lot I still don't understand and wish to know."

"I'll be here." He simply said, sitting down on the couch and then looking up at her, his expression unreadable. "Sleep well. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yes, you too. Sweet… er, dreams." And with that, she made for her bedroom, feeling his stare follow her all the way towards the door.

Lying in her bed, a multitude of confusing thoughts and questions plagued her for a while, mainly about her sister's whereabouts and brief encounter with the man named Noel. Her last thought, however, before finally succumbing to her tiredness, was of the latter. Of his eyes, more specifically. She wanted to know more about him, about what was it that he had experienced that made him have such a piercing and yet understanding stare.

***


End file.
